Abhishek Avtans अभिषेक अवतंस

Translating a pandemic: The impact of COVID-19 terminology on Southasian languages This article is part of Dialectical, a Himal series that explores Southasia’s languages, their connections and shared histories. ***A lot has changed since the

Thanks to our robust vaccination programs, we have eradicated this deadly disease. Some years ago, I wrote a short essay for Himal on words from Indian languages describing vaccination, pandemic, quarantine etc.
www.himalmag.com/culture/dial...

I also learned that the word Hindi/Urdu चेचक chechak is derived from the Turkish 🇹🇷 word çiçek which originally meant flower, and later came to denote smallpox because of the red blisters it caused on the skin.

While watching the series 1883, I realized how short is our collective memory. In those times, there was the epidemic of smallpox, which is called चेचक, शीतला & बड़ी माता chēchak śītlā & baṛī mātā in Hindi. It was a deadly disease devastating many families and communties.

Tāk/Tāq in Hindi/Urdu originally meant a recess, niche, a ledge or shelf on a wall. In Arabic & Persian tāq ताक़ means an arch or recess. Arabic tāq (arch) was re-borrowed by Persian, which brought it to Indian languages. Arabic had earlier borrowed tāg (arch) from Middle Persian

Tāq /tāk ताक़/ताक
Hindi has preserved this Arabic origin word in a common idiom niyamon ko tāk pe rakhnā नियमों को ताक पर रखना (to disregard the rules). So something kept on tāk is kind of left unattended or ignored.

In Yoga this posture is known as sukhāsana सुखासन (easy pose).

It is one of the most popular sitting style in India while having food on the ground level (non table settings). In Urdu pālthi is called चार ज़ानू बैठना chār zānū baiṭhnā. In Marathi it is called मांडी घालून बसणे māṇḍī ghālūn basṇe (māṇḍī means thighs).

Sitting cross-legged on one’s thighs is called pālathī पालथी in Hindi. This word traces its origin in Sanskrit paryastikā पर्यस्तिका (sitting upon the hams). In Hindi the usual verbs attached with pālthī are mārnā मारना (to strike) and bāndhnā बाँधना (to tie).

Interestingly, our body even has a muscle named after this posture, the sartorius muscle, running along the length of the thigh. Its name comes from the Latin sartor, meaning “tailor,” which is why it’s often called the “tailor’s muscle.”

The name goes back centuries, to a time when tailors would sit cross-legged on their work tables while sewing garments by hand.
This position kept the fabric from slipping to the floor and made handling heavier materials much easier.

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/object/Kleermaker--ed90eed8f9605ef1f5a9c2d6250717f2

Pālthī पालथी aka tailor pose
Did you know that pālthī पालथी i.e. sitting cross-legged on one's thighs is called the “tailor’s pose” in 🇬🇧 English and other European languages (as in Dutch 🇳🇱 kleermakerszit)?

Nobel prize winners in literature by languages! What do you think?
#nobelprize

Some activists also include India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in the milk tea alliance. The recent uprising in Nepal against the authoritarian and nepotist regime has followed similar patterns to those of Hong Kong, Thailand, and Myanmar.

The Milk Tea Alliance is a term used for pro-democracy networks of people from countries such as Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Myanmar against authoritarianism and Chinese state influence. It takes its name from the shared practice of drinking tea ☕ with milk in these countries.

From वेताल की प्रेमिका (Indrajāl comics) in 1988.

Perhaps the only Indian connection is that Lea & Perrins concocted a mix of regular fish (anchovy) sauce with tamarind chutney made with molasses (शीरा shīrā). This could be their Bengal connection, as variants of Indian tamarind chutney had already reached Britain by that time.

Worcestershire sauce
It's a folk etymology that the recipe for Worcestershire sauce was brought by an ex-governor of Bengal, India. This lore was created by the company Lea & Perrins to exoticize their product in 19th-century Britain. The said governor, Marcus Sandys, had never set foot in India.

So in Hindi विजयादशमी vijayādashamī and in Bengali বিজয়াদশমী bijaẏādaśamī is the correct spelling of the festival otherwise known as दशहरा daśaharā. [4]

3. श्रवण नक्षत्र की भाद्र शुक्ल एकादशी या द्वादशी जो बुधवार को हो Bhadra Shukla Ekadashi or Dwadashi of Shravan Nakshatra, which falls on Wednesday
4. दिन के 15 मुहूर्त में से ग्यारहवाँ मुहूर्त। The eleventh of the 15 auspicious times of the day. [3]

These are the dates and times which are traditionally considered विजया
1. आश्विन शुक्ल दशमी Ashwin Shukla Dashami
2. पुष्य नक्षत्र की फाल्गुन (कृष्ण या शुक्ल) द्वादशी Phalguna (Krishna or Shukla) Dwadashi of Pushya Nakshatra...[2]

Image of Durga. Photo by Souvik laha: https://www.pexels.com/photo/durga-puja-art-10852594/

Is it विजयादशमी vijayādashamī or विजयदशमी vijayadashamī?
Vijayā विजया is a feminine noun in Sanskrit. In Hindu religious discourse, the 10th day of the bright half of Āśvina is called विजया vijayā. Vijayā is also the epithet of Goddess Durgā. [1]

Interviews

Interesting find!
The Oral History of Tibetan Studies (OHTS) is a project that collects and archives the personal accounts and memories of individuals who contributed to Tibetan Studies as an academic discipline in the late 20th century.
oralhistory.iats.info/interviews/

In some places, hunters even bring the Nīlakaṇṭh bird to the public for a glimpse, earning rewards. After this, household tools and weapons are worshipped with pumpkins and bottle gourd flowers. 3/3

On this day, people in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh provinces consider it auspicious to see the नीलकण्ठ Nīlakaṇṭh (Indian roller bird). Therefore, they travel far and wide to see it. 2/3

Here's to your good future🙌
विजयादशमी की शुभकामनाएँ (vijayādśamī kī śubhakāmanāẽ) - Happy Dussehra!!
In northern India, seeing Neelkanth bird, fish, curd, & silver coins upon opening the eyes on the Dussehra morning, is considered auspicious and good omens. 1/3

दशहरे का त्यौहार: भारत की सांस्कृतिक एकता भारत के विभिन्न राज्यों में विजयादशमी कैसे मनाई जाती है?

विजयादशमी की शुभकामनाएँ। आज पढ़िए विजयादशमी (दशहरा) पर यह लेख जिसमें बताया गया है कि भारत के विभिन्न प्रांतों में यह त्यौहार कैसे मनाया जाता है।
wp.me/pSoc-2eh

Sprouted coconut is called नारियल का फूल nāriyal kā phūl in Hindi and her sister languages. Intrestingly, this seems like a calque (loan-translation) of Tamil tēṅkāyppū தேங்காய்ப்பூ (coconut flower).

Untangling the etymology of Bombay Duck Etymology of Bombay duck aka Bombil. It is not a bird but a fish!

Bombay duck (Harpadon nehereus) is a type of lizardfish popular along the western coast of India, where it is also known as bombil in Marathi and Konkani. It is not a bird but a fish. There are various speculations about the etymology of its English name. Read further-
avtans.com/2025/10/01/u...

Languages and labour on tea estates in South India and Sri Lanka Languages and labour on tea estates in South India and Sri Lanka: Part 2

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘴𝘪𝘢?

@avtansa.bsky.social (@unileiden.bsky.social) explains @himalmag.bsky.social how 19th century tea cultivation shaped culture and language in South India & Sri Lanka.

@studieverenigingtwist.nl

Rules of Kānwar Yatrā काँवड़ यात्रा (from the book - bol bam bhajanāvalī, 1988)